Agile is popular for a reason – its benefits are seen by all stakeholders. However, making the transition to Agile is difficult and not the right for every project environment. Commitment-based Project Management (CBPM) evolved in non-scrum environments to generate very similar benefits to Agile methodologies: responsiveness, team engagement, quality, productivity, etc. It is another project management solution to turbulent, global marketplace.

1. Begin Agile Without Using Agile:
CBPM

2. Who is ?

3. After the webinar…
• We will send directions to collect the PDU
you will earn from attending this webinar
• We will also send a links to the recorded
webinar and presentation slides once they
are posted online
For more information, visit www.cprime.com

4. Presenter: Timm Esque
 Managing Partner, Ensemble Management Consulting (Founded in 1998)
 Author of “No Surprises Project Management” (ACT Publishing, 1999)
 Previously 15 years at Intel Corp.
 Long active in and former board member, ISPI
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 4

5. Being agile Without Using Agile:
CBPM
Timm Esque, CPT
Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC
Tempe, Arizona
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 5

6. Today’s Talk…
1. Why CBPM
2. Foundations of CBPM
3. How CBPM Works (High Level)
4. How to Learn More about CBPM
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 6

7. The Turbulent Global Marketplace
AGILE
No longer enough
just to anticipate
and dodge
potential issues
Sensing and judging
opportunities at the
“edges of the organization”
Based on Donald Sull’s book “The Upside of Turbulence”
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 7

8. 3 Ways to Organize:
Position
Power
Processes
Promises
Sull, Donald N. and Spinosa, Charles (2007) Promise-based Management: The Essence of Execution.
Harvard Business Review, April, pp. 78-86.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 8

9. Managing the network
of Commitments
Who is counting
on me?
Who am I
counting on?
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 9

10. CBPM: 2 Active Ingredients…
1. Using “control” to ensure people succeed
2. Shifting the language we use to plan and execute
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 10

11. Juran’s
3 Conditions Prerequisite to
Self Control…
1. Knowing what are their objectives
2. Knowing whether they are meeting their objectives
3. Changing their performance in the event they are not
meeting their objectives
Quoted from J. M. Juran’s “Managerial Breakthrough “ (30th Anniversary
Edition) 1964,1995, McGraw Hill, New York, p 206.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 11

12. William R. Daniels
Breakthrough System
1. Clear expectations
2. Frequent (self-monitored) Feedback
3. Control of Resources (required to
meet the expectations)
Daniels, William R. Breakthrough Performance:
Managing for Speed and Flexibility. (1995) ACT
Publishing, Mill Valley, CA.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 12

13. Gantt Style Planning…
x X
x
x
X
Tasks
X
X
Deliverables
X
X
X
Time
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 13

14. CBPM: 2 Active Ingredients…
1. Using “control” to ensure people succeed
2. Shifting the language we use to plan and execute
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 14

15. Distinction: Performative and
Descriptive Language
In 1930’s, a British philosopher (John L. Austin)
noticed that while we tend to think of language
as a tool to describe the world, certain types of
language actually change the current state of
things.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 15

16. Distinction: Performative and
Descriptive Language
Which of the Following are performative?
1. It’s over 100 degrees out there today…again!
2. You are now husband and wife.
3. She is a really great friend to have.
4. I’ll have that report on your desk by noon tomorrow.
5. We’ll need another design station to hit that date.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 16

17. Typical Project Language
This team will need at least 3 weeks to get that done.
We’re gonna need another person to get that done on time.
Solution B will work better than solution A in this case.
That is not part of the requirements we’ve been given.
That task is not on the critical path.
“Because they are based on evidence, assertions are
always about the past or extrapolations from the past”.*
*From Alan Scherr. Managing for Breakthroughs in Productivity, Human Resource Management,
Fall 1989, Vol.28, No. 3, pp 403-424
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 17

18. Shifting from Past Focus to
Future Focus
Descriptive
Language “Last time…..therefore…”
“My request of you is…”
Performative
“I will…”
Language
“We Commit to…”
Effective planning begins with assertions… and ends with commitments.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 18

19. A Commitment Conversation
Gap
Declaration
Request
Commitment
Commitment Met?
No, before deadline:
Re-negotiate
Deadline
No, after deadline:
Clean-Up
Yes
Adapted from “Who Will Do What By When?
Acknowledge By Tom Hanson and Birgit Zacher Hanson (2007, Power Publications)
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 19

20. The 4 Responses to a Request
 Yes
 No
 Negotiate/counter offer
 Commit to respond at a
specified time
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 20

21. CBPM: Simple Tools, Simple Rules
Map Day Milestone Chart
Deliverables Matrix PAC Chart
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 21

22. Typical Results: Over 15 years
 Complex microchip design:
 30-50 % faster, 1 design revision, no panic mode
 Best TT$, record revenues and internal acclaim
 Wafer Fabrication Plant Construction
 Schedules were shortened by 25-35%
 Cleanroom size and building complexity increased
 All projects met manufacturing need dates
 Enterprise router system development (software focus)
 Performance against Commits (added 6 new features in April)
Beta: 5/25 commit 5/31 actual
FCS: 6/30 commit 6/18 actual
 Quality:
Booted up immediately and ran 15 straight hours
Stoppers/K from 5-9 to 2.7
Also: for profit University, Health Care, Casinos, Telecom, Machine shop, etc.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 22

23. Collaborative High Performance
Less about perfect plans More about the right people
And sophisticated tools Having the right conversations
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 23

24. CBPM Structure
1. Conversations for
creating the big
picture together
2. Conversations to
turn group
deliverables into
personal
commitments
3. Conversations for
managing the
network of
commitments
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 24

25. © 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 25

26. Map Day Agenda
 Sponsor Kickoff
 Meeting Set up
 Customer Deliverables
 Internal Deliverables
 Validate the Deliverables Map
 Define Deliverable Quality
 Front End Commits
 Wrap up/Next Steps
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 26

27. © 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 27

28. CBPM Structure
1. Conversations for
creating the big
picture together
2. Conversations to
turn group
deliverables into
personal
commitments
3. Conversations for
managing the
network of
commitments
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 28

29. Weekly Deliverables Planning
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 29

30. CBPM Structure
1. Conversations for
creating the big
picture together
2. Conversations to
turn group
deliverables into
personal
commitments
3. Conversations for
managing the
network of
commitments
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 30

31. 2-3 Week “Look Ahead”
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 31

32. Everyone Follows the “Early
Warning Rules”…
Performers raise flag as
soon as a commit is
determined to be in
jeopardy
Never punish an early
warning
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 32

33. Performance Against
Commitment (PAC) Charts
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 33

34. Relationship Between
Commitment and Trust
“But the key to trust is action,
and, in particular, commitment:
commitments made and commitments met”
From Building Trust, by Robert C. Solomon
& Fernando Flores (2001, Oxford University Press)
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 34

35. Learning More about CBPM
Brothers, Chalmers (2005) Language and the Pursuit of Happiness. New Possibilities Press (Naples, FL, USA).
Esque, T. J. (1999) No Surprises Project Management: A Proven Early Warning System for Staying on Track.
ACT Publishing (Mill Valley, CA, USA).
Ford J. D. and Ford L. W. (1995) The Role of Conversations in Producing Intentional Change in Organizations,
Academy of Management Review, Vol 20, No. 3 pp. 541-570.
Hanson, T. H. and Hanson, B. Z. (2007) Who Will Do What By When? Power Publications, Inc. (USA).
Howell, G. A., Macomber, H., Koskela, L., Draper, J. Leadership and Project Management: Time for a Shift
from Fayol to Flores. http://www.iglc2004.dk/_root/media/13096_097-howell-macomber-final.pdf.
Kegan, R. and Lahey, L. (2001) How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work.
Josey-Bass (San Francisco, CA).
Scherr, A. L. (1989) Managing for Breakthroughs in Productivity. Human Resource Management,
Fall, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp403-424.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 35

36. Learning More about CBPM
 blog, resources, etc, at www.ensemblemc.com
 Timm’s book “No Surprises Project Management”
at Amazon.com
 The Complete CBPM Workshop
May 29-30 in Sunnyvale
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5710749004
or signe up at cPrime website
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 36

37. Scope of The Complete CBPM Course
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 37

38. CBPM Certification
 Offered in partnership with the
International Society of Performance
Improvement (ISPI)
 CBPM Certificates Available
 Certified CBPM Project Leader
 Certified CBPM Project Manager
 Certified CBPM Coach
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 38

39. Our Mission at Ensemble
CBPM is the “other”
sought after PM Certification
By 2020
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 39

40. Back up Slides
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 40

41. The Bumps in the Road
There will be “breakdowns”:
 In meeting our commitment
 In how we say we are going to be
and act
You must treat these as events:
 From which to learn
 To identify choices
 To make your adjustments
 In which to reaffirm your
commitments
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 41

42. Dealing with Breakdowns*
 The 3 questions:
What happened?
What’s missing?
What’s next?
 Re-engage with the commitment
conversation
* From “The Last Word on Power”, Tracy Goss
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 42

43. Status: Done, or Not Done.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 43

44. CBPM Flow of Events
High Level
Project Plan
Sub-team Deliverable
Plans
Weekly Deliverable
Monitoring
Weekly Project
Monitoring
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 44

45. CBPM Simple Rules Review
Simple Rule: Do group planning in terms of
deliverables, not tasks.
Simple Rule: Define Deliverable Quality before
setting Commit Dates
Simple Rule: Don’t ask for Commits beyond
where people can see with reasonable
certainty (horizon planning)
Simple Rule: Status is reported as “Done” or
“Not Done”.
Simple Rule: Team members give early
warning as soon as a commit is determined to
be in jeopardy.
Simple Rule: Never punish an early warning.
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 45

46. How CBPM Leads to Your Desired Project Results…
High Performance: Innovative, Agile, Reliable
Timely/Informed/Explicit Decisions Made and Carried Out
Continuous & Early Warning of Adjustments Required
Personal Commitments
Planning with Inclusion,Choice and Clarity (Map Days)
Performative Language (i.e. requests and commits)
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 46

47. Weekly Deliverables Review
Agenda
1. Passdown of relevant new information
2. Status: each team member declares this week’s
committed deliverables as “Done” or “Not done”
3. Each team member declares the weekly deliverables
he/she will commit to finishing next week
4. Look ahead a week or two: Anticipated issues?
(includes new information from top down)
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 47

48. Determining Status
For the weekly deliverables planned to be
done by now, are they “Done” or “Not Done”?
If weekly deliverable is going to another
team member, do they accept the quality of
that deliverable?
© 2012 Ensemble Management Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 48